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Chapter 9: Compassion, Never Condemnation

Kassan and Jozan were going along, talking together, when Jozan said, “If, within life-and-death, there were no Buddha, there would be no life-and-death.”Kassan said, “If the Buddha were within life-and-death, there would be no delusion with regard to life-and-death.”They argued back and forth, and there was no end to it. Finally, they decided to ask Daibai. Kassan said to him, “Of these two opinions, which is the more ‘familiar?’”Daibai said, “One is familiar, one is distant.”“Which is the familiar one?” said Kassan.“Go away and ask me again tomorrow,” responded Daibai.The next day Kassan came again and asked. Daibai said, “A familiar one does not ask. One who asks is not familiar.”Kassan afterwards said, “At that time, when I was with Daibai, I lost my buddha-eye.”

On another occasion, Hogen asked Hakuyo, “Where is the dwelling place of the Buddha?”Hakuyo answered, “No fixed place.”Hogen objected, “If this is the Absolute Buddha, how can it not be fixed, no special place?”Hakuyo said, “If it were in a special place, it would not be the Absolute Buddha.”Hogen agreed.At another time, a monk said to Kyosei, “What is the meaning of ‘The Bhagavat in the ten directions is one road to Nirvana’?”Kyosei said, “In a house, there are not two masters.”

Maneesha, in a world full of insanity, you few are fortunate to discuss the great matter of the inner journey. These anecdotes contain so much, although they are so small. It is almost like a dewdrop containing the whole ocean. In fact, it does contain the whole ocean, because the taste is the same.

These anecdotes are not only to be heard, but to be lived moment to moment. As I go in, you also go in yourself. These are strategies of Zen to bring the unaware to awareness.

Kassan and Jozan were going along, talking together, when Jozan said, “If, within life-and-death, there were no Buddha, there would be no life-and-death.”

A perfect statement. If in life and in death there was no consciousness, no buddhahood, there would be no life and no death. It is absolutely and categorically true. Our birth is the birth of a buddha and our life is a life of a buddha, whether we remember it or not. And our death is going to be the death of a buddha. But remember: although on the screen it appears that there is a beginning and there is an end.existence has no framework; it is not a window, it is not enclosed by death and life. The buddha within you just comes like a breeze from eternity and moves through your heart, again into eternity. From the outside it may appear somebody is born, somebody is dead. From the inside, if you are aware, nothing is born, nobody dies. Only forms change, but the center of all our activities remains the same forever.

To experience this center is the whole effort of all meditation, because once you know it you are relaxed; you cannot be miserable. Even if you try, you cannot be tense, you cannot be angry, you cannot be greedy, you cannot have a lust for power. Once, knowing your own center, you reach to heights from where even the clouds are far below. You have touched the blueness of empty space. This traveler is called by Kassan and Jozan ‘the Buddha’.

Kassan said, “If the Buddha were within life-and-death, there would be no delusion with regard to life-and-death.”